Pokémon: The Journey of A Lifetime
by PixieArts
Summary: Jay and Amelia, childhood friends, come from Pallet Town, Kanto region. Their journey begins the day that Amelia, the younger one, turnes eleven. During their journey, they encounter different species of Pokémon, and they discover the power within them. That, until Jay decides that his quest of becoming the greatest Pokémon master of all time is more important than his heart.
1. Chapter 1

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**__ Hey there, this is an idea that I have developped on the course of a few months since I started (again) playing and watching Pokemon with my boyfriend. In order to make a quick resume of what I am going to create, and in order for you, the reader, to see if this is, after all, your piece of cake, I am going to give you a few major spoilers: this is more than a love story; this is the story of two friends who grew together and fell apart, who developped themselves and grew more and more with every region they visited. In this fanfic some of our favorite trainers will make "guest appearences" so you should stick with me because, may God help me, even I have no idea how this is going to go or end. I brace myself now and proceed to give you a glimpse of what is to come. Reviews are more than welcome, they help me grow. Enjoy :) _

_CHAPTER ONE_

Pallet Town has been too quiet in the last few days, at least that's what Jay thought; the warm summer breeze ruffled the hair that was sticking out of his green cap as he watched over his friend with little pink ribbons tug onto her pigtails. "She is turning eleven, she should quit wearing her hair like that if she is planning to become a Pokémon trainer." , he thought, as the girl flashed him an angry pair of big, green eyes.

"Come, now, Jay, it is about time that we should return home. Our mums are going to be angry if we are late again."

He looked at her; little Amelia seemed to bloom on the course of the last year. He thought it was only the beginning for her. He couldn't wait for tomorrow when they were going to receive their very own Pokémon from Professor Oak. Tomorrow was little Amy's birthday and, even though he postponed his journey with a year, he was as excited as her. Amelia grabbed his wrist and dragged him to her place. Amelia's mother, Christie, greeted them and waved as Jay made his way home, which was right next to hers. As he entered his bedroom he felt a lump in his throat and thought "There's only one more night left. Starting tomorrow, I will have my own Pokémon and my destiny awaits. Tomorrow I will make the first step towards my goal: to become a Pokémon master." He already knew who he was going to choose: Charmander was his only option and he knew that Amy was going to choose Bulbasaur since it has always been her favourite Pokémon. "Look at it, Jay-Jay, it's so cute! The way it wiggles its little feet!" she used to say about the Bulbasaurs that passed the nearby forest where they used to play. He grabbed his Charmander plushie and fell on his bed. He closed his eyes and only then he realised how tired he was.

"Jay-Jay, wake up! We're going to be late and all the starters will be gone by them. Come, on!", Amelia cried from the outside of his room, hitting the door with her little palms. Jay looked at the clock on his wall which showed that it was eleven o'clock. He realised that he had slept dressed up so he didn't need to change, he opened the door as fast as he could only to greet an angry girl.

"DO YOU THINK THIS IS SOME KIND OF JOKE, JAY?! I'VE WAITED FIFTEEN MINUTES FOR YOU TO GET OUT OF BED! COME ON, WE DON'T HAVE ANY TIME LEFT!" she said, then ran outside his house. Jay put on his shoes and ran after her. In a few moments they were inside the professor's laboratory.

"Professor Oak, we're here! Sorry for the delay, I overslept." he said, in the most calm voice that he could pull off at that moment. The Professor turned to face them and smiled.

"Well well, I thought you weren't going to show up, Jay, since you didn't last year either, but now that your friend is eleven, I think it's the right time for both of you to start your journey. By the way, happy birthday, Amelia, I have a gift for you and a late one for you, Jay, since you refused it last year. First of all, let me introduce myself formally since this is a crucial moment in your life's journey and I think you would like to remember me for who I truly am: My name is Oak! People call me the Pokémon Professor! This world is inhabited by creatures called Pokémon! For some people, Pokémon are pets. Other use them for fights. Myself… I study Pokémon as a profession."

Amelia smiled widely as the Professor walked towards a table.

"Here you have them, your choices: I bet you, Jay, are more familiar with them than Amelia, so I'm going to introduce these three one more time." He grabbed the first pokéball; from it emerged a blue, turtle-like Pokémon. "This is Squirtle, the turtle Pokémon. He is a water type, very efficient in battle with fire-type Pokémon but weak agains grass-type, which brings me to your second option." Squirtle entered his pokéball as Professor Oak grabbed the second one from which emerged a green creature with huge, red eyes. Amelia's eyes widened at its sight and the Professor proceeded to explain. " This little guy here is Bulbasaur, the seed Pokémon. He is a grass-type and very powerfull I may add, he tried to use Vine Whip against my shelf of chemistry instruments and broke three glasses." Bulbasaur obediently entered in his pokéball as the last Pokémon made its appeareance. "As I think you have guessed already, this is Charmander, the lizard Pokémon. It is a fire-type as you can see from the flame on its tail."

Jay watched Charmander closely as the Professor returned it into its pokéball.

"This are your option, it is up to you now to make your choice. Which one of them is going to be your friend?"

Amelia rushed towards the second pokéball:

"I've made up my mind a long time ago; Bulbasaur, I choose you!" she said, raising her hand in the air while holding the pokéball.

Jay grabbed the third one and smiled.

"Charmander is going to be my companion in this journey." he said, eyes on the little white and red ball in his palm.

"Very well, both of you, you have made great choices, even though I feel bad for poor Squirtle, I'm sure someone will come to get him soon enough, after all, you might not be the only one that has overslept, Jay.", the Professor said, making Jay blush to the top of his ears. "I have one more request, young ones", he said, holding two red agenda-like devices in each of his hands " this, here, is a Pokédex, a device that registers each Pokémon that you see and catch. Your mission is to encounter as many Pokémon that you can in the Kanto region and to register them in this device. This will help develop my research. I would do it myself but, as you can see, I'm mostly trapped in this lab and I'm starting to grow old, therefore I would rather prefer to finish my research rather than travelling far and wide which I have done when I was your age."

He gave both of them a Pokédex, then grabbed a few pokéballs from a shelf.

"These are also for you, to help you catch yourself new friends. Now go, what are you waiting for? The world is open before you, young ones! Make me proud and become the best that you can be!"

"Thank you, Professor!" they both said, then took off.

"What now?", Jay asked.

"Well, first, a quick stop at my place. Mum has something for both of us, she told me this morning." Amelia smiled.

They stopped at Amelia's house where her mum gave each them a pair of shoes and a backpack.

"Here I have put food and fresh clothes for both of you; Jay, you mom left to work already but she told me to wish you the best of luck in your journey. Also, take care of my little Amy, you know how clumsy she is. I swear, one day she is going to trip over her own feet."

"Mooooooom..." Amelia whined, grabbing the stuff that her mother was holding.

"Now, now...Go, children, and don't forget to do your best." she said, kissing the top of her only daughter's head and hugging Jay.

The two children walked shoulder to shoulder (well, more like shoulder to head, seeing that Amelia was so short) towards the woods.

"I still can't believe it; my very own Pokémon! And it's a Bulbasaur!" Amelia said, freeing Bulbasaur from its Pokéball. She watched it carefully, then kneeled before it, smiling. "Hey, little one, don't be scared. You're so adorable!" she said. Bulbasaur eyed her carefully then started to sniff the hand that she stretched. All of a sudden, Bulbasaur bit it.

"Ouch! There, there, if we're going to be partners, you shouldn't bite me." Bulbasaur sniffed then turned its back on her.

"Um, Amy, I think it has an attitude problem." Jay said.

"Quiet! I'm going to fix it! Me and Bulbasaur are going to be great partners, you'll see! Just wait until we make our first catch. In fact, Bulbasaur, I'm going to name you only so that we recognise each other. My name is Amelia, by the way, and your new name is going to be...I know! Petal!"

Bulbasaur eyed her curiously, making a quiet sound, then blinked happily. He then raised itself on its vines and jumped in her arms.

"Oh..." Amy laughed. "See, grumpy? We're buddies already!" she stuck her tongue out at Jay, action that Bulbasaur also imitated.

Jay giggled then got out his partner. He looked at Charmander which seemed to have a much more docile nature than Bulbasaur who was rather sassy. He kneeled and pet the small dragon's head.

It was only the beginning of a long journey as the sun shone above Pallet Town which our heros left behind them.

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**__ That's it for the first chapter. I'm waiting your opinions :) I truly hope you liked it. _


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: ** _Hey! Thanks for the kind review and for the fact that you actually took your time to read my creation. This is the second chapter which, I hope, will turn out better and more detailed. This time, the competition rises between our heroes, so let's see what will happen. Enjoy :) _

**_..._**

CHAPTER TWO: IT'S ON! 

They had been walking for a few days now and were quickly approaching Pewter city. On the way, Amelia tried to catch a few Rattattas and Pidgies, but her luck turned out to be bad; as for Jay, he enjoyed walking next to his Charmander who he decided to name Flame and laugh at his best friend. Only now he remarked the fact that, for the first time since he knew Amy, her hair wasn't tied in any way; he saw her in pigtails, braids, ponytails and all kinds of odd hairstyles that her mother usually used to create for her, but now her middle-lenght red hair was hanging loose around her face, touching her shoulders. She was walking in front of him and he could see as she raised her hand to remove, probably, a rebel strand of hair from her face; she used to do that a lot when she had loose hair hanging out of her well-tied hair. Then, he saw as she turned around on her heels and flashed him a goofy grin.

"Hey, grumpy, I know why I've only had bad luck in catching a Pokémon so far," she said "it's because I haven't battled anyone yet! I mean, how do you even expect me to battle the Pewter gym leader if I haven't beaten any trainer yet?!"

Jay raised an eyebrow

"So? You can just fight wild Pokémon; that's what me and Charmander have been doing so far. If no wild Pokémon catches your eye or wants to get in your pokéball, you can just fight it. That's a way to get stronger. Besides, the Pewter gym leader only has rock-type Pokémon, so he should be an easy kill for you and Petal."

The small Bulbasaur raised its head upon hearing its name.

"Nevermind, Jay. I challange you here and now! Come on, let's battle!" Amy said, green eyes sparkling. Jay smiled too and nodded.

"You know that you have type disadvantage, right? I mean, Flame is a fire-type; it will only burn your Petal to the ground."

"Nobody ever burns my Petal to the ground, hear that? Petal, use tackle!"

Bulbasaur ran and hit Charmander; the orange Pokémon used its balance for a second, then steadied itself.

"Flame, Ember, now!"

"Dodge it!" Amy yelled just when Charmander sent a small ball of fire in Bulbasaur's direction. The grass-type dodged it by throwing itself in the opposite direction. "Very well, now use Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur stretched its vines towards Charmander. Jay stretched his arm then yelled:

"Burn it! Use Ember one more time!"

This time, Amy didn't react fast enough, so that Bulbasaur was hit and got injured very bad. Its green skin had brown-ish patches where Charmander's fire has hit it. Even though the his made it loose its balance and tumble onto the ground, it tried to stand on its feet.

"Bulba-" the little grass-type tried to say as it looked at its trainer and fell on the ground one last time.

Amy ran to help Bulbasaur as Jay petted its Charmander on the head.

"You know, you and Petal make a great team. I told you that you had type disadvantage." Jay told her as she kneeled next to her injured friend and got it back into its pokéball. "Now we have to reach Pewter city to heal your Petal."

Amelia got up and started walking, not even watching him. "I know what she's doing; she got mad at me for winning even though I warned her. She's never going to change, is she?" Jay thought while trying to catch up with her.

"You know that I warned you. You shouldn't be mad at me because you lost." he tried to tell her. Suddenly, she stopped walking and Jay had to stop too, right before he could bump into her.

"I'm not mad at you, Jay, don't you understand?! It's just that I'm worried; how am I going to face the gym leader if me and Petal are so weak? I told you before we started our journey that our purpose is different and I told you that I'm not even sure if I want to face the gym leaders or challenge the Elite Four. It's a long way to go, but I see the gym challenges as ways to discover myself and test my strength but at this pace I'm not even sure that I have any strength to be tested."she said, a few tears shining in her eyes. Jay petted her shoulder gently then grabbed a strand of her ginger hair between two of his fingers and rolled it, thinking of just how soft it was.

"Amelia, you and Bulbasaur have just started your journey, just like me and Flame; the fact that we have reached Pewter doesn't mean that we will go straight to the gym. We can train in the woods here and spent a few days in the city, maybe talk to the gym leader before we challenged him. Remember what your mum said? She said that she has met the guy and that he was nice to trainers. Maybe he can help us get stronger and even catch our own Pokémon. We can always call Professor Oak, you know." he tried, trying to make her feel better. He was excited and scared at the same time whenever he thought that his first gym challenge was getting closer and closer. He had to catch himself a Pokémon. ASAP. Or else, he would have the same destiny as Amy and her Petal. He understood her fears, he always had. She was his best friend, after all, they saw each other grow. Seeing her sad made him sad, somehow, too, he realised that he liked better the Amy who still wore her hair in pigtails and who had goofy grins when she saw anything that she liked or when she had weird ideas. He was truly worried that this journey will be too tough for his little readhead best friend, but he was always there to protect her.

The sun shone above Pewter city as they walked next to each other to the Pokécenter. The big doors opened and a woman with pink hair and big, blue eyes who they recognised to be the ever-presend and always the same nurse Joy, greeted them.

"Hello, welcome to the Pokémon Center. Would you like me to take care of your Pokémon?" she said, smiling widely.

Amy gave her Bulbasaur in its pokeball, then turned to her friend.

"I guess we will have to book a room if we're planning to spend a few days here training, right?"

Jay nodded and Amy proceeded to speak with the nurse. She gave her the keys to their separate rooms which they took and headed straight to sleep.

The next day, Amy took her Bulbasaur from Nurse Joy, then the two went to take their breakfast. In their way to Viridian Forest, an aggressive Pidgie crossed their path.

"Stay back, Jay-Jay, this is my catch!" Amelia said, looking very enthusiastic. Her and Petal fought better than yesterday, Jay observed. He took a few steps back and watched because he mostly liked to laugh at his best friend when the Pokemon escaped her. This time, the ball shook four times, and Amelia flashed him a Cheshire Cat smile.

"Told you this was my catch!" she said, happily.

The day passed as they trained, Amy and her new friend discovering each other and mock-battling Bulbasaur who grew stronger before Jay's very own eyes. As for him and Charmander, the little Pokemon was very strong and, even though they had type disadvantage, he truly believed in himself. He was going to win his first badge in only a couple of days at this pace.

"Jay-Jay, the sun is setting, I think we should head back now. Besides, me, Petal and Pidgie are starving and we didn't bring enough food with us." Amelia complained as Jay was packing his things. As they walked side by side, Amelia nibbling on their last half of sandwich that Jay didn't like but she loved, he suddenly heard a faint sound in a bush. He stopped walking and listened carefully.

"Jay-Jay...?"

It seemed to Jay that it sounded like a wounded Pokemon could be trapped in the branches, so he summoned Charmander and proceeded to look. He removed the branches from his way and saw a small, green, worm-like Pokemon with huge eyes at the base. Its skin was all bruies and dirty.

"Amy, take out the potion, we must heal this little guy a bit until we reach the Center." he said, holding the creature in his arms. As Amelia healed a few of its wounds, Jay took out the Pokedex.

"Caterpie, the worm- Pokemon.Its short feet are tipped with suction pads that enable it to tirelessly climb slopes and walls." the Pokedex's robotic male voice cried.

"So...Caterpie, right? Let's take you to the Center!" Jay said afterwards, helping Amy get up.

As soon as they reached Pewter city and the Pokecenter, they handed Nurse Joy the wounded Caterpie, then ascended to their rooms.

The next morning, Nurse Joy greeted Jay with a smile.

"Caterpie is feeling a lot better now. Its condition was very bad and you rescued it at the last second. You should keep it, you know, when it evolves into Butterfree, it can be very useful to you and your Charmander."

"Thanks, Nurse Joy, I'll think about it." he said, holding Caterpie in his arms. The small Pokemon emitted a happy sound, then cuddled into his chest.

"You have to keep it, Jay- Jay! Look how cute it is!" Amelia cried as they made their way once again to Viridian Forest for their second day of training.

"I don't know, Amy...I mean, I already have type disadvantage and I may as well lose this gym battle which I am very eager to have. I don't want a Pokemon that will bring me down." he answered, looking at Caterpie who watched it back with big, sad eyes.

"Jay...just look at it...The poor thing looks so sad. I don't think it wants to go away from you. After all, you saved its life."

Caterpie nudged its head onto Jay's leg and watched him once again. For a moment, Jay regretted the fact that he was so nice with everything and everyone. His upbringing was pretty harsh due to the fact that his mother was mostly absent and his father was in Johto region, always working and returning home on holidays, so he taught himself to be nice; you never know the problems that both, people and Pokemon, may have. He watched the small bug-type, then got a pokeball out of his pocket.

"Whaddya say, Caterpie? Wanna join my team?" he asked joyfully.

Caterpie chirruped, then Jay touched the pokeball to its head. The ball flashed four times in Jay's hand, then stopped.

"I'm glad, you know", Amelia told him as their made their way back to Pewter, " that you decided to keep Caterpie. When he evolves, he will make a great member of your team, you'll see. As for Flint, don't worry; my mum told me a few weeks ago that he has a big family, ten children or something, and that his strongest Pokemon is a Golem. After all, a Butterfree can fly and a Golem only knows how to roll. It will be alright, Jay- Jay." she smiled softly.

He smiled too. He was determined to win this gym and mark it as the beginning of his road to greatness.

...

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** _Those being said, Jay caught himself the most manly Pokemon: Butterfree. I mean...a Butterfree-to-be. No spoilers. Honestly._

_Let me know what you think in reviews :) _


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